WI members travel in converted hearse during fundraising trip

Two members of Bleasby WI who hitchhiked to Wales without any money travelled 70 miles of their trip in a converted hearse.

Mrs Melanie Mundell, 52, and Miss Nicola Winn, 53, hitched a ride in the vehicle during their 200-mile journey from Bleasby to Bangor.

They were among six women who challenged themselves to reach Wales for free, to raise money for the University of Nottingham’s Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre.

Mrs Mundell and Miss Winn had already received four lifts when they arrived at Telford and were offered a ride by a tradesman who uses a converted hearse instead of a van.

He took them 70 miles into north Wales.

'It's the only time I have been in a hearse when no one has died'

Mrs Winn said: “It still had blacked-out windows, but the tradesman’s name was on the side. It’s the only time I have been in a hearse when no one has died.”

Fellow WI members Mrs Monica Richardson, 72, and Mrs Hazel Grundy, 79, used their senior free travel bus passes to get to Wales.

Mrs Jane Fillmore, 78, and Mrs Rachel Andrew, 70, got lifts from members of WI groups along the way.

The hitchhikers raised more than £1,200.

A group of Bleasby WI members waved off the six women at 8am on September 9. They were given goodie bags donated by Gonalston Farm Shop.

The last pair arrived in Bangor by 7.30pm the same day.

Walk across the Menai Bridge

Mrs Richardson and Mrs Grundy were grateful to bus provider Arriva for allowing them to use their English bus passes in Wales, and to Virgin Trains for letting them travel first class for free on the final leg of their journey.

Mrs Mundell and Mrs Winn were the first to arrive in Bangor, thanks in part to their journey in the converted hearse.

The fundraisers stayed with a WI member’s family in Anglesey for a few nights and ended their challenge by walking across the Menai Bridge for a celebratory lunch at Llanfairpwll WI Hall in Anglesey, where the first WI meeting in the UK was held. The destination was picked by the group to mark the organisation's centenary.

To support the challenge visit the Bleasby WI fundraisers' donation page